Rising Number Of Road Accidents, A Cause For Concern
Reporting about the road accidents in Goa has become a regular feature in the newspapers. The alarming statistics that on an average 25 people lose their lives in Goa every month is truly a cause for concern. In my opinion, the fundamental cause for this tragic loss of lives is the rising traffic density on our roads which seems to have reached a saturation point. The tourist vehicles, particularly during the long weekends add up to the traffic woes. That is further compounded by the stagnated roadways, not so much due to the laxity of the authorities, but more on account of the opposition unleashed by the locals whenever any proposal on road widening is launched. It is observed that the highest number of deaths on the roads is of two-wheeler riders followed by pedestrians, the two categories that are most prone to casualties on the roads, as there is least protection for them compared to the drivers of cars and other bigger vehicles. While we feel deeply concerned about such fatalities, we feel it appropriate to state that the ego of the rider is often the cause of such tragedies. Driving at reckless speeds, overtaking from the wrong sides and driving in a zigzag manner wanting to be the fastest, thereby causing panic among other road users, is noticed all the time. When traffic rules are flagrantly violated, the outcome is obvious. The riders are aware of such consequences but tend to ignore all the dangers looming large, till one day it is too late to change over. We fully agree that many a time, the unassuming pedestrians are knocked over by the speeding cars, buses and trucks but sometimes they too invite trouble on themselves by crossing the roads in a carefree manner. We have road safety weeks and other educative programmes and even hefty fines are proposed apart from confiscating the driving licences but unless we bring a change in ourselves by foregoing our ego, things can only worsen in the days to come.
MICHAEL VAZ, Merces
Stop Printing Currency Notes of Rs 2,000
The primary aim of demonetisation is eradication of black money. However, going by the Income Tax (I-T) department’s huge haul of new Rs 2,000 notes almost every day, it appears that demonetisation has only succeeded in ‘converting black money into pink money’! The government must stop printing the new Rs 2,000 notes forthwith as it has become an instrument of ‘ease of doing corruption.’ One crore rupees can be easily carried in a small briefcase, and thousands of crores can be hoarded in a small room.
ROBERT CASTELLINO, Mumbai
Prime Minister Must Resign
Prime Minister Narendra Modi should resign, not necessarily only because of the demonetisation fiasco that he has inflicted on this country, but also because he seems to be a compulsive liar apart from being a person unfit for the august office of the Prime Minister of India. This is being stated because of his comments at a Gujarat rally last week that he is not being ‘allowed’ to speak in the Parliament. The first thing that we need to look at in this context is Modi’s attendance in the Parliament. You rarely find him present in either the Rajya Sabha or the Lok Sabha, to which House he has been elected, intervening in debates relating to crucial and/or controversial matters that are before the House. The same pattern of absenteeism from the legislature defined his tenure as chief minister of Gujarat. The second thing is that in parliamentary democracy, the Prime Minister is given overarching precedence if he intends to speak in the House. This is a tradition established by custom and also by the respect that members of the House have towards the Prime Minister. One does not know how much respect Modi commands from the opposition benches but one must say that he has no dearth of sycophants in the treasury benches. In fact, on the issue of demonetisation, as soon as the Parliament convened within a week of the D-Day of November 8, 2016, he could have opened the winter session with a statement in both the Houses. But unfortunately, by that time, the pictures of the queues in front of banks must have discouraged him for fear of being bombarded in the Parliament. This speaks of a personality that is afraid to face his peers and take criticism. Modi also needs to realise that his scale of operations has now expanded beyond Gujarat and what could work for a state may not work for the whole of India and the repercussions are on a much larger scale also.
S KAMAT, ALTO ST CRUZ